


The Noldolantë

by Numendil



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Adaptation, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Epic Poetry, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 16:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16287599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Numendil/pseuds/Numendil
Summary: My interpretation of the legendary Noldorin epic.





	The Noldolantë

**Author's Note:**

> **The notes on this work are written in a completely in-universe style, unless otherwise noted.**
> 
> This is an English verse translation of the _Noldolantë_ , or _The Fall of the Noldor_ , the famous national epic of the eponymous race of Elves. Legend (and the possibly apocryphal final line) attribute the poem to Maglor son of Fëanor, and although no one has been able to find him and confirm this, it is not at all implausible that it was written by a Fëanorian. The poem’s portrayal of Fëanor and his sons is quite a bit more sympathetic than that in other histories of the First Age; their crimes are not glossed over, but their motives and perspectives are expounded upon in more detail.
> 
> Although the history covered spans the First Age from the Flight of the Noldor to the War of Wrath, the narrative is almost entirely Noldocentric: the Children of Húrin are not mentioned at all, and of Beren and Lúthien’s quest it is only said that they recovered a Silmaril, and Finrod was killed in the process. (Their confrontation with Celegorm and Curufin is covered as well, but from the brothers’ point of view—portraying the Fëanorians rather more sympathetically than any other history.)
> 
> There are twelve cantos, plus a short invocation and prologue, which I have considered part of the first canto. The latter part of the prologue provides a short summary, from which I take the chapter titles used here. (The cantos are not normally titled individually.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is an in-universe explanation for the familiarity of the first few lines.

Sing now of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold shall grow,  
Or sing of wind; a wind shall come, and in the branches blow.  
Before the Sun, before the Moon, the foam was on the Sea,  
And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.  
Beneath the stars of Ever-eve in Eldamar it shone,  
In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.  
There long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years,  
While here beyond the Sund’ring Seas now fall the Elven-tears.  
How have we come, in this far land, to pine and fade away?  
Why have we felt the winter’s night, the bare and leafless day?     [10]  
How have we come to dwell so long upon this Hither Shore,  
And gaze upon the Western Light beyond the Sea no more?  
Come now, my friends, and listen close, for now I’ll sing of dark,  
And when the song grows sad and keen, the wise will closer hark.  
Of Flight, of Fall, of Grinding Ice, and Battle-under-Stars;  
Of rising Moon and Sun I’ll sing, and kinsmen sundered far  
Who at last are reunited; of another battle fought;  
Of peace hard-won ‘til Sudden Flame brings all our work to naught;  
Of King who rode in fury to the Enemy’s black gate,  
And strove alone with Morgoth there, and met his final fate;     [20]  
Of Nargothrond and Gondolin, that stood against our foe,  
And other hidden kingdoms that were vanquished long ago;  
Of Silmaril that Beren plucked from sleeping Morgoth’s crown,  
And all the hosts and all the kings that bloody jewel brought down;  
And of the final voyage, that was made for Elves and Men,  
That brought the wrath of Valinor upon Thangorodrim;  
Of th’ end that came to pass at last, when all was said and done,  
And how the last of Fëanor’s sons was left to walk alone.

The Trees were slain, the Shadow come, and death was in the air,  
When wind came down from Mountain White to Tirion the Fair.     [30]  
Beneath the stars the silent breeze recalled a quiet past,  
‘Til from the West, from Valimar, there came a trumpet-blast.  
Lord Fëanor, the Prince, had come; his eyes, they burned with light,  
Fell fire that threw shadows in that second-eldest Night.  
He passed the gates of Tirion, and broke the Powers’ ban,  
And on the hill of Túna stood, and bore a burning brand.  
‘Ye know who’s done this deed,’ he said, ‘ ‘twas he I will not name,’  
(And from that day until the End all Elves shall do the same.)  
‘From Avathar the dark he came, and slew the shining Trees,  
And then he rode to Formenos upon his dreadful steed.         [40]  
He slew my father Noldóran’—a gasp ran through the throng—  
‘And what is more—O woe betide!—the Silmarils are gone!  
He tarried not, the Enemy; into the North he fled.  
There builds he walls of iron black, and forges’ fires burn red.  
There breeds he hosts of foul things, and sends them forth to war,  
For all of Middle-earth to bring to thraldom evermore.  
But here we are in thraldom too; ‘tis said we can’t escape,  
For Manwë names himself the lord of all the Elvish race.  
Shall this be so? Is he your King? Doth he indeed rule all?  
Shall he show forth his power beyond the mighty Mountain Wall?     [50]  
Shall he send forth his armies now, and bring back Morgoth’s crown,  
In which the last unsullied lights, my Silmarils, are bound?  
Or sitteth he in idleness upon his kingly throne,  
And leaves the war against his foe for us to fight alone?’

‘To war! To war!’ the people cried, for mad with grief they yearned  
To follow after Morgoth and give him the death he’d earned.  
Though many there did grumble—though many yet did quail—  
Upon the crown of Túna hill the hotter heads prevailed.  
The fervent and the blind with rage had leapt to Fëanor’s side,  
And o’er all muttered protests, a booming voice then cried:     [60]  
‘Who shall come after Finwë but his only true-born son?  
Who else shall lead the Noldor when there’s vengeance to be done?’  
Thus Fëanor was acclaimèd King; his people ‘round him knelt,  
And kneeling there they asked him of how vengeance should be dealt.  
‘Not easily,’ he answered them; though fell, his voice was grave,  
‘For we shall fight this war in pain if to us comes no aid.  
We may hold him in leaguer, but our blood shall be the moat;  
We may be only armoured with our courage and our hope.  
But I will not relinquish hope, nor victory forego;  
If onward lies a hell of iron, then onward I will go.’         [70]  
And then he drew his shining sword; a dreadful Oath he swore  
To chase the thief of Silmaril with hatred evermore.  
No Elf, nor Man, nor Vala great, was spared from Fëanor’s curse  
Who dared to keep from him his jewels of thrice-uncounted worth.  
And should he fail, he called upon himself the doom of Hell—  
And then his seven sons stood forth and swore the Oath as well.  
They swore their Oath unto the One who ‘yond the World doth sit,  
So none enthroned upon the Earth might ever their doom lift.

Then hearing this, Fingolfin came, and to his brother spoke:  
‘The Noldor shall not have a King who sweareth such an Oath.     [80]  
We’ll go to war in Middle-earth, but we’ll not follow thee;  
For by thy foolish deeds and oaths the crown hath passed to me.’  
And many Elves there heard his words, and many Elves agreed  
That they’d no longer follow if the elder prince would lead.  
But Fëanor still set out first, with much-reducèd host,  
So he might say he led the march that set out for the coast.  
The Elves did on their armour, and they gathered up their swords,  
And arrayed themselves in countless ranks behind their chosen lords.  
With thunder’s might their trumpets rang; their banners were unfurled;  
The Noldor rode to war against the Black Foe of the World.    [90]

But not a league from Tirion the host of Fëanor met  
A shining figure in the gloom: an angel from the West.  
‘Turn back! Turn back!’ Eönwë cried. ‘My lord doth counsel so,  
For only woe awaiteth you if onward ye should go.  
Though from the walls of Valinor no prison may be made,  
Your errand in the Outer Lands shall find from us no aid.  
Save but for thee, Lord Fëanor; for thee it is too late,  
And for thy sons who all are sworn to everlasting hate.  
But if thou cursest Melkor, then vainly thou hast sworn,  
For him thou couldst not overcome wert thou thrice greater born.’     [100]  
But Fëanor laughed, and turned away, and to his people said:  
‘Would ye return to bondage now, and leave me here for dead?  
O brave and noble people, shall I fight this war alone,  
While ye return to Tirion to grovel and atone?  
O valiant, O wise and skilled, shall sorrow be your fate?  
We came here looking for the Light—have we seen light of late?  
Perhaps we yet may find it—but not here beneath the Trees.  
This people’s future lieth now beyond the Sund’ring Seas.’  
He turned upon the herald then, and said to him, ‘Say this  
To Manwë, King of Arda, who hath brought us here to bliss:     [110]  
Thy kingdom’s light hath failed us, and all thy mountain walls:  
The Enemy thou broughtest here hath come into my hall.  
He slew my lordly father and he took my star-bright jewels;  
Forgive me, High King Manwë, if I question now thy rule.  
Nor tell me that I fight in vain—I go to fight thy foe.  
Perhaps in me a fire burns that thou shalt never know.  
Or, if that fire avails me not, and I my match have met,  
At least I fear not to go on—to victory or death!’

The angel bowed, and turned away, and let the Noldor be,  
And Fëanor with all his host kept marching to the Sea.        [120]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘Sing now of leaves … Hither Shore’ (ll. 1–11)—The beginning of Galadriel’s first lament sung to the departing Fellowship of the Ring (not ‘Namárië’) was in fact adapted from this invocation, which she of course would have known. As Tolkien’s rendering of it in LotR II.viii matched my translation in metre and rhyme scheme, I have re-adapted it here, correcting only Galadriel’s changes (such as the references to Lothlórien, or ‘beyond the Sun’ in place of the more accurate—but perhaps frightening to Hobbits—original, ‘before the [first rising of the] Sun’).
> 
> ‘shone … Tirion’ (ll. 5–6)—should give an idea of the correct pronunciation of the latter word.
> 
> ‘And other hidden kingdoms’ (l. 22)—translated quite literally from the original. The author was evidently not too fond of the Doriathrim.
> 
> ‘dreadful steed’ (l. 40)—presumably Ungoliant. In no other source is it mentioned that Melkor _rode_ her as one might ride a horse; in fact, the image seems comically absurd, and lends a small amount of support to the theory that the author (at least of this line) was not a witness to the original events.
> 
> ‘Noldóran’ (l. 41)—an epithet of Finwë, meaning ‘King of the Noldor’, though never used for any other Noldorin King.
> 
> ‘Mountain Wall’ (ll. 50, 111)—the Pelóri.
> 
> ‘Morgoth’s crown’ (l. 51)—this is an anachronism. Fëanor could not have known what Morgoth would do with the Silmarils, though he could perhaps have guessed.
> 
> ‘only true-born son’ (l. 61)—the theory that the marriage of Finwë and Indis was somehow invalid, and Fingolfin and Finarfin thus illegitimate, was probably not unknown in Tirion, whether honestly believed or merely used as an excuse by political supporters of Fëanor.
> 
> ‘hell of iron’ (l. 70)—a poetic translation of S. Angband (lit. ‘iron prison’). Also an anachronism, unless this line is the origin of the name.
> 
> ‘[doom of] Hell’ (l. 75; cf. l. 70)—in contrast to the previous usage, used in the modern, theological sense to translate what is elsewhere called the Everlasting Darkness; i.e, the void region beyond Eä and outside the Timeless Halls, which may or may not be the ultimate destination of the souls of Men who reject Illúvatar’s love (as it is considered to be in Christianity). It is not clear that Fëanor, being immortal, can actually damn himself to such a fate anyway.
> 
> ‘angel’ (ll. 92, 119)—used in its original sense (Gr. ἄγγελος) of ‘messenger’, particularly a divine messenger. Although all Ainur are often called ‘angelic’, Eönwë is the only angel properly-so-called to be named in the Silmarillion; within Tolkien’s wider universe, Gandalf is another (see Tolkien’s Letter 156).


End file.
